For real world railroad networks, we consider minimizing operational cost of train schedules which depend on choosing different train types of diverse speed and cost. We develop a mixed integer linear programming model for this train scheduling problem. For practical problem sizes, it seems to be impossible to directly solve the model within a reasonable amount of time. However, suitable decomposition leads to much better performance. In the first part of the decomposition, only the train type related constraints stay active. In the second part, using an optimal solution of this relaxation, we select and fix train types and try to generate a train schedule satisfying the remaining constraints. This decomposition idea provides the cornerstone for an algorithm integrating cutting planes and branch-and-bound. We present computational results for railroad networks from Germany and the Netherlands. Copyright Springer-Verlag 2005
